How to Maximize Your Organization’s HR Tech Stack

Many HR professionals refer to the entirety of their technology solutions as their HR technology stack, aka, the “HR tech stack.” Despite the importance of HR technology solutions, few HR professionals give top grades to their current systems, according to the HR Research Institute’s new analysis. Research shows that developing a robust and useful HR tech stack can be a struggle for many organizations. 

Are you among this group that isn’t satisfied with their HR technology? Don’t worry – there are simple ways that you can improve your organization’s HR tech stack without heavy spending. Check out these seven ways that you can improve the usability and experience of your HR technology: 

1. Walk before you run

If your organization is relatively new to HR technology solutions, focus on basic needs first. For example, many firms begin with core HR functions such as payroll, benefits, and workforce management. From there, they can add new talent management components to increase the value of the tech stack over time. 

2. Adopt a continuous improvement frame of mind

Think about the future and allow your HR tech stack to adapt as HR technology and organizational needs evolve. Great visioning, planning, purchasing, and implementation all count. But even implementation isn’t the finishing point. Your tech stack needs constant nurturing and improvement. Will it still be effective two years from now? How about five or ten years? 

3. Upskill your HR department

Regardless of organizational size, at least some HR professionals need to have solid HR technology skills. Train your HR department in all relevant areas. If possible, make sure there isn’t only one expert at your organization. When that one expert leaves, you’ll be back to square one with no in-house skill sets. So, plan ahead and work with your organization’s L&D team to see what resources are available. Your HR tech solutions are only as strong as the people who service them. 

4. Hire HR professionals with HR tech skills

Upskilling current employees is important, but when looking to hire new employees, consider adding more technology skills into the job description. And, even if a new HR hire lacks technology skills in a certain area, make sure they are willing and able to learn on the job. 

5. Consider integration needs in advance and integrate key systems where it makes the most sense

Recent findings suggests that many problems with HR tech stacks arise due to a lack of proper integration. When planning to add a new solution to your HR tech stack, make sure you take integration into consideration in advance. These days, many systems have integrations built into their interfaces so that they can share data with other platforms and solutions “out of the box.” However, even where this is not the case, solutions often provide users with an application programming interface, or API, that permits clients to customize integrations with other systems. 

6. Strengthen remote access

The future of work is remote—or at least partly remote. Make sure your organization’s tech stack isn’t stuck in the past. How easy is it for employees to access the information, applications and services they need? Are your tech stack components accessible by cloud or mobile? If there are some components that need to be accessed in-office, consider changing to a cloud solution so more employees have the ability to work from home. 

7. Look for quantifiable advantages, especially ones with a bottom line impact

If you work in an organization that formerly had nothing or barely anything as an HR tech stack, you likely saw huge gains in efficiency and productivity after deploying your first HR applications. Once your HR tech stack has been in place a while, however, new additions are less likely to have a major impact on productivity. Therefore, keep an eye on the quantifiable benefits of new or improved systems. For example, look for improvements in areas such as employee retention, higher engagement, faster onboarding, improved quality of hire, increases in employee satisfaction, etc. When possible, seek upticks in revenue-per–employee gained. By quantifying the advantages of new technologies, your organization will have a much better idea of which technology investments are most worthwhile. Senior leaders will be more likely to approve of future technology investments if they are assured there is a solid return on that investment. 

Final thoughts

You’re not alone if you are unsatisfied with the experience provided by your HR tech stack. Fortunately, there are simple ways that you can improve the usability of your HR applications. Start by addressing the low-hanging fruit outlined above, then consider the bigger ways that you can transform the technology’s usability. You’ll see an increase in employee productivity and morale in no time as they save time and effort doing during their workday.

This blog is based on an research report that was in collaboration with hr.com. If you’re interested in reading that report, you can access it here.